By Adam Hamilton
The barrier draws haven’t been kind to the Kiwis chasing feature race success at Cranbourne on Saturday night.
In the feature, the $100,000 Group 2 Cranbourne Cup, Don’t Stop Dreaming drew wide on the front row (gate six), while Tact McLeod drew the back (nine).
Making it worse, defending champion Leap To Fame drew superbly in gate two and will be a $1.10 favourite to bounce back from his narrow defeat in last Saturday night’s Hunter Cup.
Tact McLeod will trail through behind Leap To Fame at the start.
Most interest will be at the start and whether slick beginner Mach Dan (gate three) can cross Leap To Fame.
And, if he does as most expect, whether stand-in driver Greg Sugars pushes forward on Don’t Stop Dreaming and is first to Mach Dan to try and take the lead before Leap To Fame can.
That would at least give us a contest.
Don’t Stop Dreaming’s stablemate, Oscar Bonavena, backs up from an out-of-character flop in the Great Southern Star final last Saturday to tackle the $60,000 Group 1 Bruce Skeggs Trotters’ Cup at Cranbourne.
Under the preferential conditions, Oscar Bonavena will start from gate 11. The other class runners are Mufasa Metro (12), Parisian Artiste (nine) and Aldebaran Zeus (seven).
It’s an important night for Oscar Bonavena and Don’t Stop Dreaming to confirm they should push on to NSW to chase the Hammerhead Mile and Miracle Mile respectively.
In other news, former pin-up pacer Captain Ravishing has joined Jason Grimson’s stable to target the Miracle Mile.
Former trainer Freddy Taiba confirmed the switch and said the six-year-old would join Swayzee on a road trip from Melbourne to Grimson’s Menangle stables later this week.
Grimson will be Captain Ravishing’s fifth trainer in a 25-start career, which has been interrupted by injury but still managed 12 wins and over $600,000.
The entire hasn’t raced since a second at Gloucester Park on November 29. He ran fourth in the Group 1 WA Pacing Cup two starts back.
Captain Ravishing’s last Menangle run was a third in the 2023 TAB Eureka. He also ran second in the Chariots Of Fire that same year.
